Just last week, we wrote on our St. Louis fathers’ rights blog about a father who had spent an arduous process of several years and many court battles in an attempt to get back his daughter, whom he said had been improperly adopted when his parental rights were terminated. Now, another man in a similar situation is attempting to assert his fathers’ rights in a case involving his daughter, who was adopted without his consent six years ago. The man is now suing several people, including the attorneys involved in the case originally, for $120 million in damages.
The man has been trying to get custody of his daughter since she was born, and actually began the process of establishing his paternity before her birth. He filed a paternity petition a month before the girl was born in 2008. At the time, the girl’s mother said that she wouldn’t leave the state and put the child up for adoption. However, she did leave, saying she was going to visit a sick relative.
In the other state, the woman gave birth and relinquished her parental rights to the child. The man found out about it after the fact and began playing catch-up with the legal system. By that time, his daughter was on her way toward being adopted by her mother’s brother and sister-in-law.
The man’s suit is pending while he awaits a decision from a judge in his home state on if he can have full custody. This case shows how fathers who stand their ground and aggressively seek to have their rights maintained might see a positive outcome.
Source: The Salt Lake Tribune, “Father sues ex-girlfriend, Utah lawyers, adoptive parents for stealing custody of his daughter,” Brooke Adams, Feb. 19, 2014
